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ORGANISING FOR THE FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CWU MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN A DIGITAL AGE ORGANISING FOR THE FUTURE PAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CWU MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN A DIGITAL AGE 3 CONTENTS 04 05-06 07 Forward Summary CWU current approach to organising 08 09 10 CWU industrial landscape Points for further consideration Introduction SWOT analysis 11 12 13-14 Changes in the UK labour market Employment in post, telecoms and The CWU today financial services 15-17 18-19 20-23 Trade union membership CWU membership forecasts Trade union density and finances 24 25-31 32-34 CWU membership and density in Potential new CWU target Potential for CWU membership the post and telecoms sectors companies in the post and growth outside the post and telecoms sectors telecoms sectors 35-38 39-40 41-42 Other union recruitment and The impact of digitalisation in the Expectations of future growth and organising strategies and targets post, telecoms and finance sectors decline in the labour market 43-44 Challenges for trade union organising in the new world of work PAGE ORGANISING FOR THE FUTURE 4 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CWU MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN A DIGITAL AGE FORWARD There has never been a more important time to be a trade union member. he UK labour market has experienced For our part, pretty much since the CWU first came into being, an explosion of insecure employment, we have seen a decline in membership as employee numbers false self-employment and poverty pay in our core recognised companies continue to fall due to Tsince the 2008 recession. privatisation, competition, cost cutting and automation. The so-called ‘gig economy’ poses a major threat to This cannot continue if we are to be certain of our future as standard forms of employment, as low cost businesses rely a standalone union. We must look to stabilise our existing on casual workers who are paid piece rates and denied basic membership levels and grow our membership where possible. employment rights. We must ask ourselves whether we can afford not to organise New technologies are set to fundamentally alter the way we and represent new and self-employed workers in our sectors live and work, in what is being termed the ‘Fourth Industrial and beyond, if we are to protect and improve labour standards Revolution’. These changes will create new jobs, but there are for our traditional membership base in the future. The whole predictions that up to 11 million UK jobs are at risk through union must be open to fresh ideas and innovative strategies robotics and digitalisation over the next two decades. and the “Organising for the Future” document, produced by our Research Department, is a very welcome addition to this This is a moment where the CWU and the wider trade union crucial debate. movement must accept our responsibility to make fresh demands on a new deal for all workers and develop innovative Whilst recognising the important recruitment and organising solutions that can organise far greater numbers of workers in work we already do, this document looks at where there might this new and increasingly hostile world of work. be opportunities for the CWU to build on our existing activities and expand into new areas. It aims to inform a debate about By taking on this challenge we can defend our existing the shape of our organising strategy in a new digital age. members against a race to the bottom on pay and conditions, stand up for all working people, and pursue new opportunities for membership growth. Dave Ward General Secretary April 2018 We must ask ourselves whether we can afford not to organise and represent new and self- employed workers in our sectors and beyond, if we are to protect and improve labour standards for our traditional membership base in the future.” ORGANISING FOR THE FUTURE PAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CWU MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN A DIGITAL AGE 5 SUMMARY Trade union membership in the UK • Non-CWU membership in the post and telecoms sectors can • Union membership is in long term decline, falling from now be estimated as 330,677. 13 million at its peak in 1979, to 6.2 million today. Unions are heavily skewed towards the public sector and older workers. Membership of other large TUC affiliated trade unions • Around 6.2 million employees were trade union members in 2016, down by 275,000 (4.2%) over the year. This was the • Despite the drop in union membership overall, some largest single fall since figures started to be recorded unions have succeeded in growing their membership in 1995. over the last few years. • Trade union membership density fell from 32.4% in 1995 to • Unite’s membership has fallen by 27.7% from 1,573,000 in 23.5% in 2016. 2010 to 1,137,468 in 2016. • Union density in the private sector fell from 21.4% in 1995 • Unison’s membership has fallen by 11% from 1,375,000 in to 13.4% in 2016. 2010 to 1,225,500 in 2016. • Union density in the public sector fell from 61.3% in 1995 • GMB’s membership is up by 2.5% from 602,000 in 2010 to 51.7% in 2016. to 617,213 in 2016, although it has seen declines in recent years. • Women represent over half (54.5%) of all trade union members. • Usdaw’s membership has grown by 11% from 387,000 in 2010 to 429,463 in 2016. • Union members over 50 years old represent 39.1% of all members, whilst union members under 24 years old represent just 4.7% of all members. Changes in the labour market • Ethnic minorities are underrepresented in union • Since the financial crisis in 2008, there has been a membership, making up 9.8% of all trade union members significant and rapid rise in self-employment and non- compared with 11.8% of all in employment. traditional, insecure forms of employment including zero hours contracts, agency work, and piecework in the so-called ‘gig economy’. CWU membership • Online crowdsourcing platforms such as Uber and • CWU membership increased marginally during 2017 TaskRabbit have created a new category of digital platform to 191,424, but the overall trend is one of decline. worker without basic employment protection. Membership has fallen by 30.4% over the last 22 years, from 275,055 in 1995. • There is evidence of a major problem of false self- employment, with estimates that nearly half a million • Projections now suggest that the CWU will have between workers could be in this situation.1 167,092 and 184,560 members by 2024. • The UK employment rate is at a near-record high, but levels • The CWU has 38,158 female members, representing 19.7% of in-work poverty have risen dramatically, with 1.7 million of the current total. more people affected than in 2010-11 when the economic recovery began. There are a total of 8 million people, • Black and minority ethnic (BAME) members who have including 2.7 million children, living in poverty despite being declared their ethnicity account for 8% of the total. in a working family.2 • The union has 18,085 members under the age of thirty, or • The growth of unregulated, low cost competition poses 9.3% of the total. a threat to jobs and labour standards in the regulated economy. This is a clear threat in the postal sector, • We estimate the CWU to represent 36.4% of workers in the where the use of self-employed owner drivers by parcel post & courier sector, 30.9% of workers in the telecoms companies threatens to accelerate a race to the bottom sector and 34.5% of workers in the post & courier and on pay and conditions. telecoms sectors combined. 1 Citizens Advice estimated in 2014 that one in ten or 460,000 self-employed workers were falsely self-employed. There were 4.8 million self-employed workers in 2017, so based on the research by Citizens Advice the figure is likely to have increased to at least 480,000 today. 2 UK Poverty 2017, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, December 2017 PAGE ORGANISING FOR THE FUTURE 6 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CWU MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN A DIGITAL AGE The impact of digitalisation Other union and automation on jobs organising activity • Digitalisation of the economy poses a major threat • Trade unions are thinking differently and exploring to existing jobs and labour standards. new ways and ideas for adjusting their recruitment, organising and campaigning strategies to capture new • Commentators predict that between approximately members in the changing world of work. 3.2 million3 and 11 million4 UK jobs are at risk over the next two decades due to digitalisation and automation. • Unions including Unite and the GMB have made a conscious decision to pursue an issue based organising strategy in • Although digitalisation is set to be hugely disruptive for some areas that centres on campaigning, political pressure the labour market, there is expected to be a small overall and legal representation, such as in Sports Direct, Uber growth in employment over the next ten years driven and ASOS. by construction; trade, accommodation and transport; business and other services sectors. • Issue based organising often involves unions joining forces with other interest groups to strengthen their campaigns. • Observers generally expect digitalisation to lead to a For example, whilst Unite led the campaign for workers in reduction of middle skilled jobs, and a growth in low Sports Direct, they were backed by a number of supporters skilled and high skilled jobs, which threatens to including Unison, 38 Degrees, local MPs, and the media. exacerbate inequality. • Issue based campaigns regularly gain public attention and • Jobs at most risk of automation tend to be those that some have brought positive change for workers.

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